Ganja Yoga Classes Offered in San Francisco

San Francisco-based yoga teacher Dee Dussault is taking yoga to the next level with pot-centric classes called Ganja Yoga.

Dussault is certified in Hatha yoga instruction and began teaching Ganja Yoga classes in Toronto in 2009. On MeetUp.com, she promotes the class as a way “for you to enjoy trippy relaxation, pain-relief, sensuality, and the cultivation of inner peace, through all-levels, relaxation-based yoga.” She claims to be the first yoga teacher to offer “cannabis-enhanced” yoga outside of India.

The classes will run for six weeks, according to SFist.com. During that time, students are encouraged to bring medical marijuana to class; if they don’t have a medical marijuana card, they’re asked to do their smoking elsewhere before class starts. After 15 minutes of cannabis consumption, 90 minutes of Hatha yoga begins.

Classes are held once a week on Wednesday nights at Merchants of Reality in San Francisco.

Can Weed Increase Your Sense of Spiritual Connection?

Marijuana floods the brain with dopamine, which some practitioners say makes them enjoy yoga more, according to the Times of India. They also say that it helps people release themselves from their inhibitions and feel more spiritually connected to the practice.

Although Ganja Yoga may be seen as at best a trend and at worst a controversial practice by some, Elephant Journal’s Chris Bennett points out that cannabis and other psychoactive plants were in use in India long ago; the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali mention that the use of certain herbs can produce the same effects as mantras or concentration. The hemp plant is also associated with the god Shiva.

What do you think? Would smoking enhance your yoga practice or take away from it? Should Ganja Yoga be limited only to medical marijuana smokers, or do you consider it a spiritual practice that should remain unconstrained by local cannabis laws?

Image credit: Stoner Days

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